Ulysses Addressing Naussica, Odyssey VI

In Book VI of the 'Odyssey,' Athene, ever-watchful of Odysseus's well-being, contrives for Nausicaa, the Phaiakian princess, to awaken Odysseus and provide him with safe passage to the palace. Guided by a dream sent to her by Athene, Nausicaa goes to do the laundry by the shore Odysseus washed up on the night before. The noise of Nausicaa and her handmaidens wakes up Odysseus, who was sleeping naked in a thicket. To avoid causing Nausicaa undue alarm when he announces his presence to Nausicaa and asks for her help, Odysseus grabs 'a leafy branch to cover his body and hide the male parts' (VI, 129) and chooses 'to stand well off' (VI, 146). All of Nausicaa's handmaidens run off in fear at the sight of the dirty, unclothed, and sea-tossed Odysseus, but '...the daughter of Alkinoos stood fast, for Athene/ put courage into her heart, and took the fear from her body,/ and she stood her ground and faced him' (VI, 139-141). Flaxman's drawing illustrates this moment, with Odysseus kneeling to the left of center with a garland of leaves over his loins. Nausicaa, strengthened by the looming figure of Athena in a war-helmet, hears his supplication from the right of center. The handmaidens are depicted running in distress in the shallow background of this neo-classically constructed tableau. [Richmond Lattimore's translation and line numbers.]